Toddler's nap

My son is nearly 3. he seems like able to give up his afternoon nap. However, at 4-5pm he seems so tired, sleep and grumpy. There were few times that he missed it and was in bed at 8pm. He woke up at 1-2am for 2 hours and went back to sleep again till next morning at 9am. It did not help me much when him not taking nap (no helper). I need the time to do some house work and reading. If he takes a nap at 3-4pm for 1-2 hours. he will go to bed at 10-11pm. My husband and I have less time to each other and to ourselves. He is not going to any kindergarten yet and only to playschool and playdate with friends 3-4 times a week, each lasted about 2 hours. What will you do if your toddler is in this transition period.


Thank you for sharing.

Thanks cara. Oh the joy of parenting!


My son is also turning 3 in Feb. I know every family has their time table to their kids and will try to work what is the best for the kids and parents. Somehow when come to 'transition time' we do need some practical advises from other moms or dads or both so that we can 'copy' some to see whether it will work for some moms like me. Thanks for your input and will always appreciate it.


I do let my toddler 'help' in getting the house work done. We have bathroom day, changing mattress day, kitchen play, baking, cooking day and NO VACUUM - he runs and hide in the room when i started the vacuum and the only time he will sit still for 15-30 minutes.. love it :P He said he dislike the sound of the vacuum.


Today I told him to rest in the room so he was there in with his cars for 1.5 hour. I was able to get the dinner prepared and sit down for few minutes to unwind. At 4.30 pm i got him out to get his favorite egg tart from Pie and Tart and he spent the rest of the evening playing with dad, cleaning up toys, dinner and sleep soundly at 8.30. Let see will he wakes up at mid night as he has a little bit sneezing and watery nose. Generally he sleeps about 10-12 hours a day so i guess it is really enough. I told my friend in the State who does Sleep Study, she told me to keep children under 5 to have 30-45 minutes of nap at least 4-5 days awake so that they will behave well in social life, school (if he/she goes), stronger immune system and much happy children. So i am still working on my toddler to get a little rest in the afternoon but i am not forcing on him. If he naps, happy, if not, fine


Yes, he is starting kinddie this coming September and we are going home for 2-3 months soon so hopefully something will be sorted out when September comes. He is in the afternoon class and i have no intention to change him to morning section. Hopefully I can continue my corresponding study on Early Childhood Education soon. O.o


Thanks Cara for taking time to write.

He used to go to nap at 1.30-2pm and wakes up between 3.30-4.30pm. It was about a month or more ago that it is harder for him to fall asleep and he will only get tired and sleepy between 3-4pm, sometimes, not at all wanted to sleep. It was during the recent holiday that i realized he is able to skip afternoon nap.


Last night he slept from 8.30pm till today, 8am without waking up. good start ya :)

At about 3 my daughter started to enjoy listening to books on cd - you know the ones where they can follow along in the book. If you cant find them you can read the books yourself onto a computer and record it onto a cd. during the transition to no nap this was a good way for my daughter (and me) to have some down time - we always had quiet time at 1-3 every day. If she wanted to nap that was fine (she would do this about half the time), but if she didnt she had to stay in her room, listening to books or playing quietly.


Also if he does nap later in the day - say 3.30 only let him take a 15 -30 min so that he still has a consistent bed time. I used to "bribe" my daughter to wake up with a cookie or a dessert treat so she wouldnt be too grumpy. It is a tough age when they cant really get thru the day, but they dont really need to nap every day.

And sometimes dropping the nap can let them get more sleep in the end. My 3yo used to wake up btwn 6 and 6:30, have a 30-45 min nap about 1pm then go to sleep about 8pm. Now, after we have dropped her nap, she goes to sleep at 7pm and wakes up between 7 and 7:30am. It's at least an hour gained every day. Plus, it has made her much more aware of her own tiredness. If she wants a nap during the day now, she says "I'm very very tired" and we let her lie down and close her eyes, and give her 15 mins.


The transition was tough, though -- it took about a month all together and she was very very cranky starting about 4pm. I used a tip from axptguy -- a bit of fruit juice to give her an energy boost -- and then sometimes we would just take her to bed at 6pm if she really couldn't last. Then, gradually, she started sleeping later and later in the morning and it all came together.


Her friends at kindy who attend full day [she only does a half day] generally have a 1-2 hour nap, then go to bed at 10:30 [!!] and have to be hauled out of bed at 8am.

kiwimmc & Z. Thanks for sharing your tips.


Since posted for advice, my little one is taking more afternoon naps and his night bed times can be anytime between 8.30-10pm. My husband prefers him to go to be around 9pm because he is home by 7ish and would like to have dinner and some good time to be with his son so it works out fine for everyone. When they play/read or wroom around, i can have a little time to myself checking emails, read something or just do my own thing in the room. I am fine as long as he goes to bed not later than 10pm. What I like about him to take a good nap in the afternoon is that I can do a lot when he naps and i can nap too if i want. When he is awake and full of energy, he can play by himself or we go out to the park for an hour, by 8pm he is pretty tired and ready for bed.


I can really cut his nap time and let him sleep from 8-8 but so far he still have the tendency of waking up at 3 or 4am for an hour and then go back to sleep again by himself. we usually don't attend to him but we can hear him talk and sing or calling 'mommy...." if we do not answer him he will say to himself 'oh, it is so dark, they are sleeping".


We are going home for a couple of months and when we come back he is going to kindergarten in the afternoon. I am sure things will not remain the same as right now.